Conventionally, location-based services (LBS) and real time location-based systems (RTLS) have been employed to identify and track devices or people or to obtain and use location data to control features for devices or the like. Implementing LBS and RTLS into existing telecommunications networks and infrastructure computing systems, however, has typically required extensive adaption and change to the networks and systems, as well as extensive management overhead. Costs and network disruption and integration that are required for implementing LBS and RTLS services of concentrated devices have been particularly impracticable.
In the conventional systems for LBS and RTLS services, the physical layer of LBS/RTLS technology employed to locate devices and provide services to the located devices is generally some form of wireless communications, such as Bluetooth™ low energy (BLE) proximity sensing, global positioning system (GPS) location, radio frequency identification (RFID), or similar. In order to be operable with conventional LBS/RTLS services, devices that are tracked have required particular capabilities and operations, for example, devices have had particular operations (e.g., Bluetooth, GPS, etc.), been of particular type or brand of device (e.g., iBeacon and Apple devices, etc.), and/or operated via dedicated software or embedded technology, such as a particular App processed on the devices, or the like.
One challenge presented by the conventional technologies when extending concentration is that infrastructure costs and network management overhead are substantially increased. Moreover, network and infrastructure complexity is necessarily increased, because the network and infrastructure must control and operate with the locational systems and the particularities of the LBS/RTLS environment of the relevant implementation. Further, performance and operations of the existing network and infrastructure systems can be hampered because of the additional loads resulting from the conventional LBS and RTLS implementation.
It would be an improvement and significant advance to provide LBS and RTLS systems and methods that limit impact to existing infrastructure and network systems. It would also be an improvement to provide improved data acquisition rates, positional precision and granularity to wireless networks in LBS and RTLS systems. It would further be an improvement to limit extent of operational and privacy intrusion in detection and tracking devices in those systems. Even more, it would be advantageous to provide systems and methods of LBS/RTLS having ability to identify and track a wide variety of different types or brands devices, for example, that may not be of any particular type or brand, have particular or specialized operational capabilities or elements, or include or have particular software, app or embedded technology or other distinct aspects or features.